Texas Governor Rick Perry speaks at a press conference with local and emergency management officials in a tornado-damaged neighborhood of Lancaster, Texas, Thursday, April 5, 2012. Tornados ripped through the DFW area on Tuesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

Texas Governor Rick Perry, left, attends a briefing at the Emergency Operations Center in Lancaster, Texas, Thursday, April 5, 2012. The governor and emergency operations officials are assessing the damage from tornados that ripped through the DFW area on Tuesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

Julia King, 17, left, and Courtney Doyle, 16, organize donated food items for needy Kennedale families displaced by the recent tornadoes in the Dallas area Thursday, April 5, 2012 in Kennedale, Texas. Students have been collecting donated clothing and food items, and bagging it according to sizes and genders so each family can be given a bag without having to sort through mounds of clothing. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ron Jenkins) MAGS OUT

Kennedale High School students sort clothing for needy Kennedale families displaced by the recent tornadoes in the Dallas area Thursday, April 5, 2012 in Kennedale, Texas. Students have been collecting donated clothing and food items, and bagging it according to sizes and genders so each family can be given a bag without having to sort through mounds of clothing. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ron Jenkins) MAGS OUT

Kennedale High School students sort goodie bags for needy Kennedale families displaced by the recent tornadoes in the Dallas area Thursday, April 5, 2012 in Kennedale, Texas. Students have been collecting donated clothing and food items, and bagging it according to sizes and genders so each family can be given a bag without having to sort through mounds of clothing. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ron Jenkins) MAGS OUT

LANCASTER (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday toured a town ravaged by storms that set off more than a dozen twisters in North Texas, and he lauded local first responders for preventing more serious damage.

Ten people were injured in Lancaster, south of Dallas, and hundreds of homes and other buildings were damaged when a tornado hit the town Tuesday. But no one was reported killed in the storms that blanketed the Dallas-Fort Worth area with twisters, thunderstorms and hail.

“Witnessing this type of disaster always brings just starkly to your mind how quickly these events can occur,” said Perry, flanked by local officials in front of a nearly destroyed home in Lancaster.

While many people lost their homes and belongings that might never be replaced, “we do need to thank the Lord that it could have been worse,” Perry said.

“The reason it wasn’t worse, I will suggest to you, is because of these local first responders,” he said.

The governor toured Lancaster first by helicopter and later met with local officials.

Perry issued a disaster declaration for Dallas, Tarrant and Kaufman counties and suggested the state would ask for federal help. Spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said a damage assessment still was under way and would determine what state officials would request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or other federal agencies.

Nashed said she didn’t know when the assessment would be completed. A FEMA spokesman said the agency had not yet received any requests for assistance.

Perry and state emergency management chief Nim Kidd both said the quick response in Lancaster prevented a much larger disaster.

“This response was flawless,” Kidd said. “I can’t think of another thing we should ask them to do next time.”

About 150 homes in the city are considered uninhabitable, according to Jose Luis Torres, a Dallas city spokesman assisting Lancaster. Authorities are still going through neighborhoods to check for damage and don’t have an estimate yet on the total cost of the storm, Torres said. Officials have re-opened city streets to residents looking to gather belongings from their homes.

Authorities also continue to assess damage in Arlington, west of Dallas, where a tornado bore down on a nursing home and damaged hundreds of homes, city spokeswoman Rebecca Rodriguez said.

The National Weather Service has confirmed 14 tornadoes in Dallas-Fort Worth. Twisters that hit Arlington and Lancaster each caused damage that suggested they were EF2 tornadoes, with wind speeds up to 135 mph. A tornado that leveled homes in Forney is believed to have been an EF3, with wind speeds as high as 165 mph.

Tornadoes can range from EF0, the weakest, to EF5, the strongest. An EF2 or higher is considered a significant tornado.